State Keeps Its Paws Off Circus Bears

A Florida wildlife official said Thursday the state was satisfied with steps being taken by the Moscow Circus to build bigger cages for the show's performing bears.

The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission had warned the circus Wednesday that it might lose the bears and be asked to leave the state if the animals weren't moved immediately from their current cages, which are too small to meet state requirements.

The agency sent Lt. Tom Quinn to meet with circus officials Thursday after repeated warnings about the cages. Quinn said he went over the requirements with a contractor hired to build the new cages and the work began before he left.

''As long as we see continual construction then the animals will stay where they're at,'' Quinn said.

The circus, which opened off International Drive in late February with plans to stay for six months, has been keeping the animals in traveling cages. Quinn said a new investor group bought rights to the circus recently and said they had been misinformed about how quickly they had to move the bears.

Quinn said he will monitor the cage construction in the coming days and make sure that the animals are moved. He emphasized that he had been checking on the bears over the past two months, even making some visits unannounced.

''The bears are not being mistreated,'' he said. ''The issue is not cruelty. It's an issue of minimum pen specifications.''